Reddit reviews Adventure Motorcycling Handbook: A Route & Planning Guide
We found 3 Reddit comments about Adventure Motorcycling Handbook: A Route & Planning Guide. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Experienced international motorcycle traveler here.
If you haven't already, check out ADVRider, Horizons Unlimited, and the Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.
Cost of the bike will be a significant factor. Not just the cost of the bike and accessories, but the cost of a carnet de passage. It's a "passport for your bike" that requires a "surety bond" to be put down depending on the cost of your bike and where you plan to take it (the purpose is to cover import taxes in case you leave the country without the vehicle). The minimum is something like 150% the value of your vehicle, running up to (IIRC) 800% in Egypt. Imagine putting away 8x the cost of a 1200GS for your entire time away.
As to bike choice, yours will be determined by what kind of riding you want to do. I did my trip from the US to Argentina mostly on-road on a KTM 1190 Adventure R. If you want to do lots of offroading, lighter is better.
Pack way less than you think you need (it's not the empty void, you can buy things you need, even in the developing world). Do shakedown trips. Commit to going and actually go. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Yeah it was a blast! Although there were definitely low points as well. I was 26/27 for the trip, currently 30. It was about 3 months on the road, but I also skipped almost all of N. America. Figured I can do that later, but South and Central America is changing daily. I think I did 12,000 miles total. I think I spent about 11k for the whole thing, 2500 for bike ('02 KLR, garage kept with only 3,000 miles) another 2000 for mods and equipment, and the rest on the road. You could do it cheaper if you wanted I ended up staying in hotels more often than camping, although the hotels were only about $10-15 a night so even that wasn't too much. Biggest expense ends up being fuel and paying for entry visas, insurance etc. Also I was originally planning on selling my bike at the end but got too attached and shipped it home, so that added another $900. I did go over budget but not by too much fortunately, my girlfriend helped me a little towards the end to finish up (which is why I had no hesitation to make her my wife)
As far as equipment, the most important thing is a bike (obviously!) that you feel comfortable on, you'll be spending a lot of time together. Otherwise I feel my best money spent was on a very good set of panniers. Also good country by country GPS databases were invaluable, but you can get those for free online. I'm a big fan of paper maps, but I have to say the GPS was a lifesaver. There's so much to talk about regarding what to get, and what NOT to bring, it's easy to pack too much. For now I'd focus on getting a good bike and in the mean time I highly recommend this book it's fairly general at times, but is a great place to start planning. I read it front to cover.
Anyway good luck and feel free to stay in touch, especially if you decide to go for it!